Nation briefs

Posted: April 1, 2012 - 12:24am

Across The Nation

MIAMI

Twelve people were wounded and two shot to death when gunmen opened fire on mourners outside a Miami funeral home, leaving a scene that one witness described as “a war zone,” authorities said Saturday.

It happened Friday at about 9:35 p.m. as services were taking place at the Funeraria Latina Emanuel, about 10 miles north of the city’s downtown, the Miami-Dade Police Department said.

Jaques Leonet, a photographer for the funeral home, said a viewing for Marvin Andre was just finishing and people had begun walking outside. A crowd of mostly young adults had gathered in front of the funeral home when a car drove by and opened fire.

People screamed and took cover. Several were left bleeding on the ground. Others ran back into the church, Leonet said.

“It was like a war zone,” Leonet said.

When officers arrived at the scene, one man was dead and 13 others were injured. A second man died after being taken to the hospital. Police said the injured include a 5-year-old girl.

ALLENTOWN, Pa.

A Mexican national said he has been barred from entering the United States to bury his 10-year-old son, a U.S. citizen who died Tuesday in a house fire in northeastern Pennsylvania that killed three other people.

Attorneys for Fidelmar “Fidel” Merlos-Lopez are trying to win humanitarian parole so he can attend the funeral, but say U.S. Customs and Border Protection has rebuffed their efforts.

Damien Lopez died in a Shenandoah row house along with his cousin, aunt and 7-month-old half-brother. The funeral is set for Monday, with burial the next day.

“I told the customs officer that all I want is a permit to see my boy for one last time. They treat me as if I am a criminal,” Lopez, 34, a bus driver, said in an interview Saturday. “Right now, I need their support, and they are refusing to help me.”

Lopez has been waiting at the U.S.-Mexico border near Laredo, since the fire.

SANFORD, Fla.

The special prosecutor leading the investigation into the shooting death of an unarmed black teen by a neighborhood watch volunteer is known for her tough tactics aimed at locking up criminals for long sentences and making it difficult to negotiate light plea bargains.

Furthermore, 57-year-old Angela Corey has handled hundreds of homicide cases involving the justifiable use of deadly force — experience that could prove invaluable. It will be up to Corey whether to charge 28-year-old George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watchman who says he was defending himself when he fatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin during a scuffle. Martin was unarmed as he walked from a convenience store, and the case has become a racial flashpoint with protesters across the nation calling for his arrest. Zimmerman’s father is white, his mother Hispanic.

Police did not initially charge Zimmerman because of a state law allowing someone to use deadly force if his life is in danger.

Corey, who also could call a grand jury to decide whether to file charges against Zimmerman, is known in legal circles as being passionate about victim’s rights and having clubby ties to law enforcement. She won the State Attorney’s Office seat after being fired from her job at the office a few years ago, beating the handpicked successor of the state attorney who fired her.